The Clifton clarion., 1887-06-08
THE USE OF COCA.
COunsuI DuFre Tells of Its Mar velous Effects Upon the Ma
 tiveS of South America.

Consul DuPre transmits from San Salvador an interesting re- port upon the use of coca in that country and its effects upon the inhabitants. He says:
 q have seen so much recently written of coca in newspapers and in medical publications that I am impelled to report what l have learned of the virtues of this pro duct of South American forests. With leathern straps passing around their foreheads to sustain burdens of 150 or 200 pounds on their backs, l find these 1.-the, slen- der natives traversing plains and mountains with greater celerity than the mule I bestride, which travels through the livelong day six miles an hour. Native physi- clans, eleves of the schools of Par IS, concur in assuring me that this extraordinary capacity for en durance of toll and hunger is to be ascribed to the use by these viag- eros of coca. It is administered freely to infants, and is the chief intoxicant of men and women. Youths through many days are in trusted with the care of valuable fiocks of llamas, having no other sustenance than that to be found in little leathern purses containing coca and its compounds. Indians chew it constantly. Theirs, like the maxillary movements of tobac co chewers, are incessant. From thirty to fifty gramas are consum- ed daily, serving unlike tobacco, both as food and stimulant. With out coca, habitual chewers cannot digest food; without 1t they are unable to ascend mountains, with long, rapid strides, never stacking their wonderful speed through the livelong day. They will not toll without It; without it they enjoy nothing; without tt, practically, they cease 10 live. The immedi- ate effect of chewing coca is per feet insensibility of the interior of the mouth. The immediate sen sation. is that which enc would ex perience when finding that his mouth had become a great void in somebody else's head. l had a dentist apply it when extracting the roots of q molar tooth, and the effect was as described. Indians constantly using coca finally lose the sence of taste and smell. They can eat without repugnance most disgusting food and drink most nauseating draughts. The sensi tiveness of the mucus membrane has been destroyed. When one goes further and swallows the salava impregnated with the juice of the coca leaf, delicious sensation of warmth and perfect blessedness prevades ones whole being. intel lectual, nervous and physical, and he is lapped in the joys of an clysium.
 In doses of 15 to 60 grains, coca produces delightful intoxication. Its joys transcend in perfect bless edness all known human delights. A sensation of lightness first su- pervenes; the air inhaled is zeph- yrs from angels wings; there are wild imaginations and fantastic hallucinations and gorgeous wis ions, and then complete insensi- bility. It is intoxication without drowsiness, without congestion of the brain, involving a sense of per feet rest. The law of gravitation is suspended, aud the coquero drifts bodily among the stars. Meanwhile the muscular system is simulated to an extraordinary de- gree. A intellectual excitement supervenes, enabling the ''possess- ed" of this demon to watch and toll through sleepless days and nights. No dreadful headache or more intolerable nervous prostra- tion follows.
 Ut Is the most potent nervine, almost, at mans disposal. Its hygienic properties are disclosed from its phoslological properties" says Spanish M. D., who adds that in hot infusion 1t is the one useful and healthful beverage one can use after dining. Especially is Il cn1n1nanrlel h i'm reai,ln tn